Residents of Khartoum are enduring a third day of fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Pope Francis on Sunday issued an appeal to the warring parties to lay down their arms and resume dialogue.
By Nathan Morley
Residents of Khartoum are enduring a third day of fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Over the weekend, at least 97 civilians were reported killed, including three employees of the UN’s World Food Programme. Over 940 people have been reportedly wounded, including civilians and combatants.
During his Regina Coeli address on Sunday, Pope Francis said he is following the events unfolding in Sudan with concern.
“I am close to the Sudanese people, who have already been through so much, and I invite you to pray so that they might lay down their arms, and pick up the path of peace and harmony,” he said.
appealed for an end to the fighting. He said “I am close to the Sudanese people, who have already been through so much,” he said, and he called for prayers that “arms may be laid down and that dialogue may prevail, so that together, they are able to return to the path of peace and concord.”
Power-struggle
The clashes are part of a battle for power between General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, the head of Sudan’s armed forces, and General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the chief of the Rapid Support Forces group.
The two generals are former allies who jointly devised a 2021 military coup that ruined Sudan’s short-lived transition to democracy.
The opposing forces were fighting in several locations across the country, including the western Darfur region where thousands of people live in camps for the displaced.
The United Nations has condemned the failure of both sides to stick to a humanitarian pause in fighting.
Earlier, the Secretary of State Antony Blinken said people in Sudan want the “military back in the barracks” and called for an immediate end to the violence. Likewise, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said the future of the country ultimately “lies in the hands of the generals who are engaged in this fight”.
